Whose money is it if it isn’t Peter’s? Does it go into Bob Shaye’s pocket??? How much money does he have? how much did he earn from this movie??

Well, this is all beside the point. The terms of the contract ARE the point and we are not privvy to those terms. So how the hell can we come up with an opinion on who is in the right or not??! Let the courts as objective observers go over the terms and the facts and then give an objective ruling. Then be done with it and move on.

Bob getting aggresive and personal does not look good for him. Aggression is a defence mechanism which can be used to distract or intimidate others from looking at the facts.

Will Peter make The Hobbit? I don’t really care. I would love to see something else by Peter and his crew. Will New Line make The Hobbit? Who cares where the money comes from? All dues for taking the giant risk on Peter and crew to make LOTR and letting them make three movies and giving enough budget to make them great. But I don’t really care if another company makes The Hobbit. Another director may add a new style and make this special in a different way from LOTR. It is a different adventure and the tone of the book was different from the LOTR anyway, so it should be different.

“Our issue with New Line Cinema has only ever been about their refusal to account for financial anomalies that surfaced from a partial audit of The Fellowship of the Ring. Contrary to recent comments made by Bob Shaye, we attempted to discuss the issues raised by the Fellowship audit with New Line for over a year but the studio was and continues to be completely uncooperative. This has compelled us to file a lawsuit to pursue our contractual rights under the law. Nobody likes taking legal action, but the studio left us with no alternative.

For over two years, New Line has denied us the ability to audit The Two Towers and The Return of the King, despite repeated requests. Film auditing is a common and straightforward practice within the industry and we don’t understand why New Line Cinema has taken this position.

In light of these circumstances, I didn’t think it was appropriate for me to be involved in New Line Cinema’s 40th Anniversary video. I have never discussed this video with any of the cast of The Lord of the Rings. The issues that Bob Shaye has with the cast pre-date this law suit by many years.

Fundamentally, our legal action is about holding New Line to it’s contractual obligations and promises. It is regrettable that Bob has chosen to make it personal. I have always had the highest respect and affection for Bob and other senior management at New Line and continue to do so.”

He has said himself that if new line allowed an independant body to perform an audit they will accept whatever the findings are.

As for this bob shaye guy telling people how much they have paid him – well thats a bit of a cheeky tactic …..all he is doing there is trying to make jackson look really greedy and he knows it that is exactly why he said that….

kneons point is right on the money. If jackson has a deal with them they could have given him a billion dollars for all anyone cares …if they owe him money they owe him money. end of story. but shayes tactic worked already people are saying “isn’t that enough money for him” when that isn’t the point at all.

If you had a commision based deal at your work and you thought your boss was not giving you the correct commision as per the contract you had would you just roll over and accept it or would you want to go over the figure to make sure you were not being fucked over??

of course you would.

I am not on any one side here really…I lean a little more to jackson I guess but only because I fail to see how jackson is a prick because of this and think people just like to attack the rich, successful guy.

I ask one more time then – why is it so bad for jackson to want an audit done??

if new line would just allow an audit to take place this would have been finished with months ago.

Huh. What a mess…

Loved his trilogy, but… I can’t help but wonder if he wouldn’t have filmed MEET THE FEEBLES 2 instead if it weren’t for New Line.

Though I have to agree with Jay here — we don’t know the whole truth. If Jackson was promised X amount of money and New Line slighted him, then he’s entitled to it.

It would be like landing a cushy six figure job — your “big break” — only to find out that your employer has decided to give you $50,000 after you’ve taken the job. Yes, it was a fantasic offer and will do wonders for your career, but is it ungrateful to complain? I mean, you *were* promised twice as much. When pressed, your employer retorts with something like “Well, $50,000 is a respectable salary. You should be happy.”

I think PJ is being a little ridiculous, but Shaye’s attitude came across to me like “Well, we’ve paid him enough.” True — a quarter billion is an absurd amount of money. But if Jackson was promised more, he was promised more and is entitled to it. How much was agreed upon doesn’t change when the studio feels he’s gotten “enough.”

Just playin’ Devil’s Advocate here. ;)

It’s a common conception that Hollywood studios cook the books little bit and most people play along, but once in a while someone wants their agreed share and sues. I think New Line is worried that books are open in the rings trilogy because maybe they just don’t owe Wingnut some big chunk of cash, but other people as well. Considering that Rings is their piggy bank that as allowed them to make lousy flops, they must be worried. It’s a shame that people that had the vision to bet the house on Peter LOTR triology, make so many mistakes with other crappy movies.